


shortbread almond latte (extra foam)

by theformerone



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Librarian AU, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 15:59:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17790407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: “Your number’s on the parfait isn’t it?”Ino snickers, but nuzzles Sakura’s cheek with her nose.“Yours was on the coffee,” she hums. “All’s fair in love and war.”





	shortbread almond latte (extra foam)

Ino got the barista gig first, because she knows how to brew a cup of tea better than most people in the city. Probably because she was raised around flowers and did tea ceremony classes as a kid, the kind of classes Sakura was too impatient to sit through. 

Sakura got the gig shortly thereafter, mostly working late night shifts after she got out of class. Med school wasn’t paying for itself, and while she wasn’t exactly comfortable letting her girlfriend pay their rent for the second year straight, the library’s little coffee shop let her print and copy and have whatever she wanted from the pastry display at the end of the night. 

And besides, it was a nice way to spend extra time with her girlfriend. Part of Ino’s MA included hours counseling other students, and she got paid, which kept the lights on and the water warm. 

Between both of their ridiculous day schedules, their night shifts at the coffee shop was the only time they managed to sneak together with one another before going home haggard at the end of each evening. But they were happy. Students got quieter the later at night it got, and blindly requested coffee or tea or cakes and looked at Ino and Sakura like goddesses of late night study sessions whenever they provided. 

And then, they noticed her. 

“A library science student,” Sakura had guessed, watching the dark haired, pale eyed woman push a cart between the stacks. 

“No,” Ino muttered, pouring an ungodly amount of sugar into the order she was working on. “She’s gotta be full time.”

”Why?” 

“Because she’s here even when we’re not.”

Sakura lifts an eyebrow, but lets her gaze track the strange, pretty librarian as she disappears around a bookcase. 

Ino and Sakura had been together since the second grade. Inserparable ever since. They had planned on a June wedding by the time they were both twelve. Being with each other had always been a sure thing. Being with others had taken some manouvering. 

Fighting over Sasuke in high school had really been the start of it. It had ended up in an explosive argument, one that had threatened to ruin their plans for Scorpio daughters and IVF and a little cottage by the sea until Sakura had blurted - 

“Why can’t we just share him?”

They didn’t have to come to an end just so another relationship could begin. 

That realization (though it did not lead to either of them dating Sasuke) had followed them through high school, through girlfriends and boyfriends and date-mates alike, until the five year lull between undergrad and graduate school had taken its hold. 

And as suddenly as it occurred, it was broken. 

“Is she gay?” Sakura murmurs. 

Ino swipes a highlighter through her reading, scribbles down a note before tucking her pen back into her ponytail. 

“Fingernails look like it,” she replies. “Seems femme enough to me.”

”Lots of girls have short fingernails and wear dresses.”

”You asked my opinion,” Ino shrugs, dusting her hands off on her apron before going to retrieve a pastry from the toaster oven. “I gave it. When has my gaydar ever been wrong?”

Sakura lifts an eyebrow. 

“You used to think Shikamaru was straight.”

”In all fairness,” Ino says, “he did get the gay ear pierced.”

”This isn’t the eighties, dipshit.”

”Thanks for the history lesson, sugarlips.”

Sakura ignores the sure way she knows Ino is sticking her tongue out at her behind her head just in time to welcome a new customer to the front of the line. 

The librarian. Whose nametag reads ‘Hinata’.

”Hello, miss,” Sakura starts without missing a beat. “What can I get for you today?” 

“Oh,” She lifts her chin a bit to squint at the menu, but then drops her eyes not a moment after. “I’m not sure. But my supervisor told me to get a cup of coffee before I, ah, fell asleep on the job.”

Sakura smiles, and offers her a sympathetic shrug of the shoulder. 

“Long hours, I understand,” she says. “Well you don’t have to get coffee. Some teas have plenty of caffeine. What kind of flavors do you like? Fruity, earthy? Maybe something with cinnamon?”

Hinata’s eyes widen a fraction, and she tugs at the waist of her pale blue dress. 

“I love cinnamon,” she replies, suddenly looking bashful over her interest. 

“Great!” Sakura says, lifting up a small cup and scribbling Hinata’s name on it, trying valiantly not to beam over how adorable the girl is. “We have a good knockoff of a Starbucks cinnamon shortbread latte that’s even better than the original.” 

Hinata hides a laugh behind her hand at that, and it’s a shame because Sakura is sure her smile is stunning. 

“Anything else?” 

“Oh,” Hinata says, eyes going a little wide again as Sakura writes the order on the cup. “I’m lactose intolerant.”

”No worries. We have soy and almond milk.” 

“I’d like the almond, please.” 

“Of course, miss.” 

There aren’t any customers behind Hinata so Sakura flutters off, kind of like a kid with her first crush to make her drink. 

“No fair,” Ino hisses. “I saw her first.”

“Dibs are forfeit if you’re too chickenshit to make a move.”

”Fuck you.”

”Gently, baby, you know I like it slow.”

Ino bumps her hip hard against Sakura’s but not too hard to mess her up as she fixes Hinata’s order. 

“Could I interest you in any of the baked goods? A hot or cold sandwich, maybe?” 

Sakura tries not to snort, and lets Ino try to catch up in the wooing the librarian game.

”Ah,” comes Hinata’s smaller voice. “I can’t have anything on my hands for work.”

”A snack for later then? We have fruit cups and parfaits made to order.”

”Do you have - “

”Dairy free yogurt? Yes, we do.” 

Sakura can picture the winning smile on Ino’s face, the one she uses when she’s being a real charmer. It must work hook line and sinker, because Hinata says, “Oh! Well... What kind of fruit can go in the parfait?”

Sakura rolls her shoulders and carefully adds just a little extra foam to Hinata’s order, just because she seems like the type of girl who would like an extra frill or two. Then, she scribbles a grinning sunflower on the cup beside Hinata’s name, her phone number just below it, and signed with her namesake.

Ino makes the custom parfait grinning like a cat that got the cream, and Sakura hands Hinata her drink, careful to let her fingers still cover her phone number. 

“Shortbread almond latte for Hinata-san,” Sakura says, and tries not to feel the way Ino looks when her fingers brush Hinata’s.

”Thank you very much...” Hinata replies, bobbing her head in that cute way she does. She squints a little before gasping like she’s remembered something, and tugs a pair of reading glasses out of her dress’s breast pocket and sliding them onto her nose. “Sakura-san!”

”My pleasure.”

”If you don’t mind me saying,” Hinata adds, suddenly bolder now that she can see more clearly. “I really like your hair color. And your tattoo.”

Sakura reaches up, brushing her fingers against the jade diamond on her forehead, beaming. 

“Thank you, Hinata-san. Please enjoy your drink.” 

“And,” Ino sing-songs, throwing one arm around Sakura’s neck as she does so, “your parfait. Nice and split up so you can have it whenever you like.” 

Hinata takes the parfait just as carefully as she took her latte, a little flush on her cheeks. Sakura can just barely see that she has a dusting of pale freckles over either cheek, but none touch the bridge of her nose. 

“Thank you, Ino-san.”

”My pleasure.” 

With that, Hinata bobs her head again and makes her retreat. 

“Your number’s on the parfait isn’t it?”

Ino snickers, but nuzzles Sakura’s cheek with her nose. 

“Yours was on the coffee,” she hums. “All’s fair in love and war.” 

“It’s hardly war when we both win either way.”

Ino gives her a peck on the lips, and gently squeezes her. 

“Stop ruining my fun.”

”Get back to work.” 

“Yes, Haruno-sensei,” Ino drawls, unlooping her arm to clean up their stations. Sakura gives her a light pat on the butt as she goes, and Ino tosses her ponytail over her shoulder to wink at her girlfriend.

”And Sakura? I didn’t just give her my number. I gave her yours, too.” 

Sakura snorts and lifts an eyebrow. 

“Now you wanna share?”

”Only her, dollface,” Ino says, winking. “And only with you.”


End file.
